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Intel has reportedly put back the release of its upcoming X48 gaming chipset to allow motherboard makers to clear the decks of boards based on the X48's predecessor, the X38.

Originally due to appear next month, the X48 - reviewed here - will apparently now surface in February or March, motherboard-maker moles cited by DigiTimes claim.

The X48 surfaced back in September before the X38 had even gone on sale. Since then, the new part was claimed to support only DDR 3 memory - albeit at up to 1600MHz, this speed coming courtesy of Intel's so-called XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile) specification, designed to make overclocking a less hit and miss operation.

X48-based boards will sport up to four DIMM slots, two per channel. However, only two 1600MHz, 1.8V DIMMs can be added to the board. Anyone using 1600MHz memory will only be able to connect up a 1066MHz or 1600MHz FSB processor. Only non-ECC memory modules are supported.

The X48 supports two x16 PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 slots and connects to Intel's ICH9 southbridge chip, which brings six 3Gbps SATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 12 USB ports and six PCIe lanes for configuration as two x1 ports and either a x4 connector or four more x1 slots.